


Double-jointed, Triple Threat

by ShortCakes



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Exy (All For The Game), Alternate Universe - Sports, F/M, M/M, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21994327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShortCakes/pseuds/ShortCakes
Summary: In Gansey’s sophomore year, ESPN or fox sports or NBC had compared Gansey to a king, not a prince but a king. Gansey was the king, Adam the magician with his clever plays, Ronan the knight for his strength and loyalty and Blue, Blue was the oracle, able to see what was coming before everyone else was able to. It was quite a clever analogy for ESPN or fox sports or NBC or whoever. it didn’t matter who thought of it, all that mattered was that it stuck and from that point forward, Gansey would forever be known as the king.
Relationships: Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Double-jointed, Triple Threat

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Dessa's 5 out of 6

In Blue’s opinion time worked differently on the inside of an exy court. Everything was faster, 45 minutes felt like 5, 1 minute might as well be one second. The pace of the game was relentless, it never stopped, it never slowed. Until now that is. 

Noah lay on the court unmoving and time froze for Blue. distantly she heard the whistle, heard Ronan yelling something unrecognizable, but mostly she just heard static. Blue couldn't move, her feet rooted to the floor. 

Despite the static and chaos erupting around her one thought cut cleanly through her head  
It’s over.

4 months later

No-one else in Blue’s family had played exy, and that was quite impressive considering Blue had a lot of family members all of whom lived in Virginia. California had swimming, Texas has football and Virginia had exy. The sport has only been around long enough to see 6 Olympic games and yet people were obsessed. Maybe it was the violence or maybe it was the non-stop action that made people go crazy, she didn't know. But she did know why she keeps coming back, again and again, and again.

The Sargent family car made a squeaky sound as it pulled up to Monmouth, hissing a little bit under the tall grass surrounding the building. The Aglionby University exy team occupied a property lovingly named Monmouth or shit hole if you were Ronan. Most of the team lived there for two reasons, one: it was close to the court, two: Gansey lived there so that was where everyone else wanted to live. When Blue moved to Monmouth she thought she would never leave, oh how things change. 

Orla Cursed as the car struggled to break on the hill, before finally just removing the key. 

“Don’t you want to turn on the parking brake?” Blue asked. 

“Stop back street parking and start unpacking, You've had your license for 5 minutes. Marua told me to help you unload but I’d rather make your mule friends do it so, shoo, get this crap out of my car” Orla said. Blue hesitated, not entirely sure if she was ready to return before setting out to the house to look for Adam or Henry. 

She didn't have to look for very long, surprisingly Adam and Ronan were sitting outside on the porch playing cards. It was not uncommon to see them alone together (not even close), it was that they were normally always with a buffer, that buffer either being Blue or Gansey, Adam and Ronan had a complicated relationship that seemed to get more complicated every day, those complications too big to exist un-buffered. Seeing them together was even more surprising Considering the Last time Blue saw them together Adam’s fist was on Ronan’s face; it what was an exceedingly rare display of unchecked aggression from Adam. 

“Adam does that ant look a little big to you or did someone just cut the grass” 

Adam did not dignify Ronan with a response and instead stood up to greet Blue. “Blue, it's good to see you”. He reached out to hug her. Adam was not really the hugging type but he and Blue had reached the level of friendship where it would be silly to do anything else besides hug when reuniting. “I missed you guys” Blue whispered into Adam’s shoulder. Adam just hummed in response. As well as not being the hugging type, Adam wasn't really the mushy feelings type either. 

“Sargent I didn't see you down there, you know with the tall grass and all” Ronan said while lifting his fist, prompting blue for a fist bump. 

“You know my real reason for going back home for the summer was to give you some time to come up with some new material, I now see that it was a stupid idea.” 

No one said anything. Blue meant it as a joke but since everyone in present company knew the real reason Blue had left, it lost all traces of levity. This tense silence made it hard to speak, now this was Blue expected to return to, not jokes and fist bumps. 

“Help me move my stuff?” Blue said breaking the silence. Ronan, Adam, and Blue returned to the car. After 2 trips, some perfunctory flirting from Orla, a whole lot of scowling from Ronan, and one goodbye they were finished. 

It felt weird to be back, it was the same room Blue had always occupied (she was pleased to see that her paper mache tree remained untouched), but it felt different, or rather Blue felt different. Adam and helped Blue unpack her bags while Ronan stood and watched leaning up against the door frame. The awkwardness from before had disappeared but Blue had no other choice than to bring it back. “Where’s Gansey?”. Adam and Ronan looked at each other and had one of those silent conversations that Blue ( or anyone else ) could never understand.

After a long minute, Adam simply said “war room”. 

Blue nodded and thanked Adam for help, and left for the basement. Monmouth had 2 floors, plus a basement and an attic. Due to the building’s sparling nature, everyone got their own room, Except for Ronan and Adam who shared the attic. Which had everything to do with Adam watching over Ronan and nothing to do with lack of space. The basement, however, belonged to everyone. Gansey had converted it into a common area of sorts, but really well, it was more, of a war room. The basement used to be covered with floral wallpaper but Gansey and everyone else had covered the walls, in everything ranging from photos to newspaper clippings to diagrams mapping out plays. There was a large flat screen used for game review game tapes situated in front of couches upholstered with butter-soft leather. To the right of the TV that there was a large table, that look should look out of place anywhere besides a king's castle, Except Gansey somehow made it work. Seeing Gansey now poring over scattered documents Blue couldn't help but think of a king, waiting for his court to arrive. He didn't look up, he had headphones on so Blue wasn't surprised he didn't hear her come down, even if the stairs suequed like a mother fucker. 

“Gansey”, “Gansey” blue said a little louder this time, the “DICK”, this seemed to get his attention. 

“oh - Jane I didn't hear you come in, come sit much to discuss”

Gansey didn’t look any different, of course, he didn’t. He did sound unsure, which was new. She took the seat to his right, normally Ronan’s seat but it would be childish to sit on the other side of the table considering they were the only two here, no matter how much Blue wanted to. He handed her a sheet of paper, marked up with his neat handwriting. 

Richard Gansey the third, the king, captain of Aglionby ravens, he was a man of many names and faces, but Gansey was a mediator at heart put on this earth to problem solve, but for a leader Gansey sure as hell liked to pretend like nothing happened. 2 months of radio silence and now they seemed to jump right back in their familiar routine.

“These are our freshman, or at least how I See out freshman”. Blue, of course, knew about all the new recruits as she played a small part in the selection process but she didn't know how Gansey saw them. She scanned the sheet, it listed pros, cons, personality traits classified by their potential to either help or harm the team. All neatly summed up with a concluding paragraph outlining potential problems. This was the work of a statistician or a behavior analyst, probably both. 

Blue smiled not because of anything particularly interesting sheet but because of the relief she felt. Gansey was nothing if not predictable so of course, he would just pretend like nothing happened. She could do this, everything with Gansey would be fine, as long as they both only focused on exy, which was all they were supposed to focus on anyway. 

“Has Adam seen this yet” 

Gansey nodded, “he has, we have some differences in opinions but that's nothing new, now tell me Jane how was your summer, it has been … wow almost 2 months” 

“Good, it was good to see my family…” Bue trailed off, not sure what else to say. “What happened to the old Adam and Ronan, they almost seem like friends again” 

“You know them,” Gansey said vaguely, not happy with the topic choice but eager to change the topic, “It won’t be long before they are back at each other's throats”. After that things almost seemed to go back to normal, they fell into a comfortable pattern of discussing the upcoming season, discussing the new recruits, talking about how the new recruits would react to Ronan and discussing the upcoming season again. skirting past delicate topics with ease. They cycled through this until they were joined by Henry, then later Adam, and then far later Ronan. Eventually, the whole team had arrived, they all sat around the table catching up. As the day turned to night the topics seem to shift from exy to stories about Henry's friend of a friend who got wasted and bought 1k worth of beekeeping equipment or Helen’s terrible experience with food poisoning in Prague. 

This was Blue loved about exy, she loved the people who played it. Different spots attracted different types of people, the people who pursued baseball were not the same sort of people who dedicated their lives to gymnastics. The people who sat around this table were Blue’s people, she was admired their sharp edges and determination, she missed them, probably even more than she ever missed her family. Blue leaned back in her chair letting the chatter wash over like warm rain, this was going to be fine, everything was going to be fine. 

///

“This is not fine, this will not work out I am telling you this now”

“Well Adam, tell me our other options than” 

Adam stayed silent, he hated arguing with Gansy, at least when he was arguing with Ronan he never knew what to expect. Adam always knew what to expect with Gansy and that was pure stubbornness politely delivered like a politician. The unpredictably made arguing with Ronan interesting at the very least. With Gansey, Adam felt like the outcome was set in stone before the conversation began. 

Adam sighed, “you know I am right, you have to tell him, you have to tell him Declan is coming back.” 

“Why not just bring back Kavinsky here to get him addicted again, just really put him back on that downward spiral”

“You are being ridiculous if you hold on to this any longer it will blow up in all our faces” 

“I am. Adam, am I being ridiculous? You say that but you weren't here last time, you weren’t here for the fallout, because you were- ”Gansey cut himself off before he said anything he couldn't un-speak.

Adam stood very still contemplating his next move, words unspoken hanging in the air. “Fine, ill do it myself then.” it was an immature solution to the problem, but Adam felt it was what needed to be done.

“Don’t, I’ll do it before the first day of practice, satisfied”

Adam nodded, even though he wasn't exactly satisfied, he rarely was though. Gansey said nothing else and instead took to cleaning his wire-frame glasses. Adam took this as his cue to leave and went to go find Blue. 

She was in her room standing on a heavy-looking book, which was placed on a chair, which was placed on top of a desk. She was in the process of taping paper flowers and stars to ceiling, not an easy feat considering the height of the ceiling. Adam waited for her to notice him but Blue was lost in her own world. 

Blue had been the Aglionby’s ravens starting goalie as long as Adam had been on the team. Despite her small stature blue was a force to be reckoned with. She was so much more than a goalie, she brought the team up, she grounded them, she pushes them forward even when all her other teammates insisted on dragging their heels. Most importantly Blue was his friend. So after two months of nothing, Adam felt like an explanation was long overdue. 

“So are you going to hold this chair or do want to play this season with Cheng 2 in the goal” 

So she had noticed him but said nothing, what a very Blue thing to do Adam mused. He moved towards the center of the room to hold the leg of the chair with one hand and the desk with the other. “You could have asked for help earlier, this isn't exactly a stable step stool” 

“It’s no less safe than the sport we play,” Blue said. “Plus the whole house could hear you and Gansey going at it” 

“What did you hear” 

“Enough” 

“Adam scowled, this is what he was afraid of. He made a mental note to never hold a conversation in the kitchen again, sounds seem to carry just a little too well in that room. “I don't want to talk about it, I do want to talk about why you never called me over the summer” 

Blue inspected a blue tissue flower paper in her hand, it had been cut into the shape of a lily. “I needed to get away,” Blue said eyes still trained on the flower. 

“Blue what happened with Noah wasn’t your fault, what went down with Ronan and me wasn’t your fault, and I don't know why the hell you are tiptoeing around Gansey but you have to tell me if you want me to help” 

Blue finally looked up” its not that simple Adam, I can’t just stop feeling the way I am feeling, it is complicated, you of all people should know that”.

She sounded angry even without having to raise her voice. A skill Adam never seemed to be able to grasp. In a rough voice, Adam said, “I don't want to fight with you”.

Blue just continued her work silently for a few more moments, the only sound being the white noise from the air conditioning before finally speaking. “Well talk at team dinner okay, I am really tired right now”

Adam just nodded, he continued to hold the chair and table in place and then helped blue clean up. He left with a quick goodbye and a promise to see blue at dinner. He thought he’d head back up to the attic, maybe get a head start on some of his course work but he was stopped in the stairwell. 

Ronan stood tall, looking strong and stark like an inkblot on a blank white canvas. His gear bag in one hand and Adams in the other. He raised a single dark eyebrow in response to Adam’s disheveled appearance and troubled expression. Adam always looked troubled but after his conversation with Blue, it was probably worse than usual. Ronan Threw Adams bag and his chest and simply said “Court. Now” 

With little fanfare, Ronan and Adam got into the BWM and headed to the court. Ronan would simply describe Cabswater stadium as a big glass box with a smaller plexiglass box inside of it, a nightmare for someone with claustrophobia or a disgrace to architects everywhere, but to Adam is was the only place where he felt like himself. Monmouth and Aglionby belong to Gnasey but this 100 by 60-yard rectangle belonged to Adam. Even when everything would inevitably fall apart even when Adam had nothing, he could still always have this. 

Adam stood in the center of court simply breathing deeply and letting the sun wash over him over, it wasn’t often that he was here in the sunlit hours. With Ronan’s insomnia, most unprompted trips to Cabeswater Stadium took place in the dead of night. 

“You done being a fucking weirdo, cause if you keep breathing like that the stuff they use to clean the floor might get you high” Ronan shouted from across the court, buckets of balls in his hands. 

Adam sighed one last time before joining Ronan in front of the goal. They warmed up in complete silence, his body moving on auto-pilot. Running, stretching, passing then Adam left to go retrieve cones for rebound practice. While Adam enjoyed the framilartarity of it all, Ronan hated it, he, however, hated most things that didn’t take place at 100 miles an hour. 

Normally Gansey would come with them but he was preoccupied with capitainly duties. The new recruits wouldn't arrive for another 2 weeks and school wouldn't start for another 4 but Gansey was busier than ever. As vice-captain, Adam normally helped a great deal but Gansey insisted on doing the press Statements for the new players by himself. That might have bothered Adam last year but now he was content to let Gansey deal with the politics of the game. 

Ronan appeared to have grown bored with knocking over cones and switched to hurling balls at Adam. Daring him to do something about it. Adam however finished up his set, three years playing as a striker with Ronan had made him very good at dodging. 

On the court, Ronan didn’t see his teammates as people so much as he saw them as targets used throw at and receive balls. This made Ronan a very good player but very hard to play with. For most other players at least, Adam didn't think so. 

“Some of us have to warm up you know, stop that” 

Ronan ignored him, changing the topic “what’s with you and Sargent, you guys break up again because I am so sick of practicing with no goalie” 

“No nothing like that”. Adam couldn't see Ronan face but he was positive Ronan’s mouth was twisted into a smirk. “Stop smirking you know that that's been over for a long time”. 

“Fine but I want to start shooting, get in goal” 

Never had in Adams life had he ever taken the goalie position for granted but this summer Adam wants to get on his knees and thank Blue repeatedly for her existence. Adam respected Blue’s ability before but now he was in awe of it. When Ronan passed to your net you could feel it all the way up your spine, but on some level the ball was designed to be caught. Ronan’s shots were a different story. Without proper goalie gear, Adam couldn't help but feel like Ronan was trying to kill him. With Blue gone for summer and because of Ronan’s internal hatred for Cheng 2 they had each been taking turns in the goal. Adam would be lying to himself if he was a little more than relieved to see blue back in Aglionby. 

“Switch with me,” Adam said. They went like this for a went and as time went by Adam's stress seemed to lessen with every ball in the net. Eventually Ronan left the goal leaving Adam alone to shoot alone. Adam doesn't think he has ever achieved a runner's high, or even a regular high but he doubted it could ever compare to this feeling. 

“Parrish” Ronan called, “ADAM”. 

Adam turned around finally noticing that the sun had begun to set. “What time is it” 

“Jesus Adam, if you weren't such a reckless son of a bitch on the court I would say you were a robot.” 

Adam removed his gloves, his arms starting to feel like jelly. It wasn’t a bad feeling perse or maybe Adam had just gotten used to it. Since the sun was starting to disappear it probably 7:30, 8:00 maybe, Jesus they had been here longer than Adam had anticipated. If it was past seven that meant… 

“We're late for team meeting” 

“Well no shit” 

///

In Gansey’s sophomore year, ESPN or fox sports or NBC had compared Gansey to a king, not a prince but a king. Gansey was the king, Adam the magician with his clever plays, Ronan the knight for his strength and loyalty and Blue, Blue was the oracle, able to see what was coming before everyone else was able to. It was quite a clever analogy for ESPN or fox sports or NBC or whoever. it didn’t matter who thought of it, all that mattered was that it stuck and from that point forward, Gansey would forever be known as the king. 

Gansey didn’t feel like a king, especially now when Ronan and Adam were late. He had called Adam twice, since calling Ronan was beyond worthless but he didn’t pick up, probably at Cabeswater, probably overworking himself. 

Long ago when Ronan and Gansey meet Adam, He was overjoyed. Finally, a striker that wouldn’t quit after 2 minutes of working with Ronan, a striker with a level head and incredible instincts. Finally, someone who could level Ronan sharp edges. Mallory, the coach at times, thought that Adam and Ronan were like yin and yang, fire and water Ronan pushed while Adam pulled him back. 

That, however, was not the case. Gansey thought Adam could curb stomp Ronan addictive tendencies, however, it turned out that Adam was as much of an addict as Ronan, he was just addicted to something else entirely: Adam who wanted to see just how far he could go was not always a good partner for Ronan, who always wanted to see just how far he could push other people. At their worst, they were self-destructive at their best they were the two best strikers Gansey had ever seen. 

With Blue in the goal and Henry and Helen behind him, they could be an unstoppable force, that is if they could all get on the same page. Blue, Adam, Henry, and Ronan all represented fissures that Gansey needs to repair. But Gansey’s team members, best friends, members of his court, were not holes in the Monmouth’s walls that could simply be filled in and then smoothed over. Nevertheless, Gansey told their coach he would get it done before the season began. So Gansey put on his politician smile and tried to forget his team wasn’t titering just a little too close to the edge. 

Luckily for Mr. Gray, this was what Gansy did best, problem solve, though he couldn't begin without the Ronan and Adam. As if on cure Gansey heard the familiar sound of the staircase squeak as Adam and Ronan jogged down it. 

Adam looked damp as if he hadn't bothered to take the time to dry off after showering, or maybe he was just reading too much into and it was only raining. 

“Well look who decided to come to dinner” Henry called out, everyone cheered as Adam took his seat to Gansey’s right, Ronan sat down on his left. Both seats had been left open even though currently there were more people chairs. 

Adam bowed his head in acknowledgment while Ronan glared at Henry. Blue surprisingly also glared at Adam, were they fighting? Gansey wasn’t sure: whatever it was it sure wasn't going to make easing the growing tensions and snowballing egos any easier to mend. 

Gansey signed “now that we are all here, we need to talk logistics, the media and address the issue of Noah”.The whole room went silent. 

“First I would like to say welcome back to everyone who left to go spend time with their families this summer, it is nice to see that some of us have a life outside of this team” It was supposed to be a joke but no one laughed, still reeling from hearing Noah’s name. 

“Its been a tense summer but now two weeks away from preseason, is the time to tie up any loose ends” the room remained silent except for Ronan who snorted at Gansey loose ends comment. “Now is the time we address any issues before the press or other outside forces make things any messier than they already are.” 

_Come on Gansey rip the bandaid off, make it clean_ Gansey turned to Ronan, “Declan is coming back to Virginia for in order to become our new assistant coach he asked me for help looking for an apartment”. The room grew even more silent, even faint hum the air conditioning seemed to stop. 

Ronan leaned back in the chair, his face inscrutable, which was never a good sign. It was Adam who looked the most shocked even though Gansey had told him last week. Although the shock factor probably came from Ganseys unusually candid way of phrasing it. 

“You knew of course you did,” Ronan said but he was not looking at Gansey. 

Adam met Ronan’s gaze, tension evident in his elegant features, he didn’t say anything. Gansey took this as his cue to continue before things started to get messy.

“Any way… As you all already know Noah will not be returning to the court this year, the press release will go out Monday, breaking our media blackout. I know this has been a hard summer for us all but we have to do better, be better for his sake and the sake of the youngblood joining us for this season.” Gansey paused, “any questions”. 

The room erupted at once Ronan had slipped out already, Adam was still here though, arms crossed, back stick straight, staring ahead, it was as if Ronan had punched him, Ronan might as well have. The lack of reaction was probably scarier than anything Ronan could have said or done. While Adam got quieter the rest of the team got louder and louder. 

_“There is no way we can make it championships,” “Or defensive line is fucked”, “is Parrish going to be okay?,” “Lynch is going to crash and burn and take us all down with him”, “it’s his fault we lost champs” “are you kidding me! none of the new recruits will see the court during a game”, “this is just going to have to be another dip year”, “He won't be able to help,”, It was as if Gansey greatest fears were becoming a reality right before his eyes_. Sometimes Gansey felt like this team took the “To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy”, saying a couple of steps too far. Normally he thought this about Adam and Ronan, now he thought the whole team had caught the self-destructive bug. 

Blue Met Gansey’s eyes from across the table, she nodded her head slightly as if prompting him to continue. Gansey cleared his throat effectively quitting the room. “Keep talking like this and we will all go down in flames. If you really have something to say, tell me now.” 

The room fell silent once more and Gansey continued. “As my father said those who have tasted defeat are starved for victory, and I don't know about you but I am starving, this year we’ll win but only if we can stand as a united force no more playing the blame game. This coming Monday we are breaking our radio silence, the reports, fans....Everything to be dredged up to the surface so we need to be prepared to support each other through it all”

“We can’t continue to live in the past, we too look forward, think about what is going to happen this season and only this season” Adam spoke, his voice firm and clear, no trace of his accent. it was as if Gansey speech had sobered him up from his encounter with Ronan. 

“Now, any more questions” Gansey repeated. 

Only Henry’s mouth moved, simply forming the words “long live the King” 

After that Gansey went over the logistics such as practice schedule and medical examination dates. After that, everyone started to trickle out of the basement leaving to go to bed or mingle elsewhere in Monmouth. 

Without the rest of the team to distract him Gansey began to notice tension in way Adam carried himself, “Adam could you pass me that pitcher of water” 

Adam did his arm slightly shaking as he set it down in front of Gansey. 

“You’re overdoing it again aren’t you,” Gansey said, his tone devoid of a question mark. “Adam when I say we need to be united I meant you also, I need my vice-captain to be 100%, we can't afford to have you blow out your shoulder again” 

Adam rubbed his left shoulder, hopefully out of habit rather than discomfort, “It won't happen again, I’m fine, just had a lot on my mind that’s all, is Blue still here? I needed to talk to her” 

“I saw her head upstairs just a second ago, What happens with you two” 

“I could say the same to you” 

Gansey didn’t know how to respond to that so he didn’t. 

“I am going to go find her, nice speech, by the way, it was a tad too Richard Gansey the 3rd for my taste but I think you got the point across” 

“Ha ha very funny, now get out here, you look like you are going to pass out if you stand for any longer” 

Adam nodded left, leaving Gansey alone surrounded by empty pizza boxes, Adams words from this morning echoing in his mind. “This is not fine”

///

Ronan sat the roof, taking in the Virginia night sky, at one point Ronan could name almost all the constellations, but now the night sky looked unfamiliar, Almost as it if Ronan was watching the stars from another planet. 

Ronan’s father had taught him and his brothers, many things but most importantly his father left the Lynch brothers the names of the consultations, a deep appreciation for Irish folk music, and the ability to throw a mean right hook. Most importantly though Nial Lynch taught all his sons absolutly everything about the sport of exy. 

Niall lynch wasn’t always an exy player. Before exy become something worth naming, Niall lynch was a boxer working in Ireland. He was Ireland’s younger version of rocky, or at least that is what Niall told all his children. He was undefeated so when a man he didn’t know approached him with an opportunity to gamble, he felt like he could afford to go all in. The mystery man and Niall would fight, if Niall won he would be rich if he lost he would have to quit boxing and join a team for a sport that didn’t really exist yet. Boxing was everything to Niall So when he woke up after his loss to his opponent he felt as if he had made a grave mistake. Niall, however, did not despair as he believed there was no point in winning if you weren’t willing to risk it all for something more. If you won, you won and could win again if you lost that was that was just a mere inconvenience. So Niall joined this New sport that would supposedly take the world by storm, and left Ireland for the states. 

In many of Niall lynch’s stories the details would change, one night Niall would he say he found magical fish, the next day it might be a magical songbird. Although the story of how Niall became an exy player always remained the same and remained firmly rooted in reality.

Ronan knew Declan had probably forgotten the name the stars, and probably could no longer play the Irish uilleann pipes but Ronan knew Declan remembered exy, even if he renounced his status as a player he still remembered. For a young age Declan and Ronan practiced with their father, it never felt like a chore though it was exhilarating and fun, their love for the sport ran bone-deep, it was in their blood to play, to fight, to win. 

But Declan left exy to pursue, “a more practical career” as he put it and left Virginia for good. At least that was what Ronan thought. 

Reaching for the bottle of Whiskey next to him to take one last swig before, calling Declan. He picked up after the first ring, probably assuming that since Ronan was calling something terrible had happened. Ronan didn’t say anything at first letting Declan stew in worry and uncertainty, it was childish but Declan seemed to bring out the worst in him, seeing his brothers now, without their father there made something in Ronan’s blood curdle. Sometimes It almost physically hurt to look at Declan. To be fair it probably also hurt Declan to see Ronan, although his pain was probably a little more physical considering that their last encounter left Declan with a broken nose. 

“Couldn't find a real job so you are coming back to bother me, you had to keep it a secret of course” 

Ronan could hear Declan sigh, it was not really a sigh of relief though, “this decision had nothing to do with you” 

“Well those you can’t do teach”, Ronan said, tone furious. He had always had a way of making flippant quips, sound like a threats or insults. 

Declan said nothing which was all the confirmation that Ronan needed, he hung up without saying goodbye and tossed his phone somewhere behind him, the screen was already cracked anyway so he saw no point in being careful. 

If this were last year or any time before that, Adam or Gansey would be watching Ronan like a hawk waiting for him to fuck up. Now they both realized that Ronan would do something stupid and impulsive regardless of whether they were there or not. Since obstructing Ronan compulsive tendencies never seemed to work Gansey and Adam instead focused all their energy into damage control. Although Ronan didn’t feel like doing anything stupid bullshit tonight, he really just felt tried, numb even. He had skipped over the other stages and went straight to acceptance, or maybe the whiskey in his stomach had waterlogged his brain. 

On Monday, Gansey would announce Declan's return to the team as an assistant coach on Monday Gansey would announce Noah will not be returning to exy, on Monday the vultures that wrote trash articles on stupid college athletes would descend in droves and pick the team apart like they were fat deer carcass. This meant a lot of uncomfortable interviews and even more damage control. Gansey, who descended from a long line of politicians was used to the scrutiny, Adam, on the other hand, despised it, probably because they always found a way to bring up his family, a topic of interest after Adam conspicuously shot down a simple question about his father. Ever since then some crusty reporters always found a way to bring it up again. It probably didn’t help that Adam looked so fucking approachable, all fine feature and slight southern drawl, he was much too polite to completely shut down a reporter. At least the world knew that Ronan’s dad had a gambling addiction and was killed after he made a bet with the wrong people, so no one with the tiniest sliver of a brain ever brought it up.

Adam with his graded demeanor was unsurprisingly terrible at dealing with the press. Despite his best efforts to imitate Gansey effortless “Richard Gansey the third” articulation he never could. It not that Adam was dumb, just the opposite really, it was just that he was not Richard “dick” Gansey the third. This bothered Adam, but Ronan personally couldn't care less. Adam played like God put him on this earth to do one thing, and that one thing was to score goals, so to Ronan, it didn’t matter if who could answer questions that someone had no business asking the first place. He tried to tell Adam that if he wanted to get better at press duty he should take a page out of Ronan and Blue’s book and learn to a simple phrase, “fuck, the fuck off”. Adam, however, didn't listen. 

Ronan layback, so he could get a better look at the stars, there was nothing left to do but wait. Maybe Ronan could take a page out of Adam’s book and wait for unsavory situations to either blow or boil over. He knew it wasn't a fair thing to think about Adam but it was true, Adam never fought like Ronan, or ran like Gansey, he froze. He stopped thinking about Adam for a second to feel around for his discarded phone when he found he saw he had received one text from Delcan, it simply read, dad would hate to see us like this. Ronan chucked his phone off the roof and for the first time in a long time Ronans fell asleep looking at the stars.

///


End file.
